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"In coming days, Canada and European officials will intensify negotiations on a new trade agreement most Canadians have never heard of. The Canada-European Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is by far the largest free trade deal this country has ever undertaken.."

globalist takeover advances

Comments

A truly mutual economic partnership with Europe would be great -- one where they buy as much from us as they sell to us, and good stuff, too, not just resources. But a free-trade agreement won't do that. Meantime, we'll be dragged down by Europe's coming funk, which will easily last a decade. Better to take a pass on this one, and negotiate a better deal with the Europeans somewhere down the road, once they're back on their feet.

this article was a tad depressing to say the least. As if NAFTA wasn't enough now we're looking to duplicate that mess with Europe? I'm sure this will be great for investors but it will be horrible for the rest of us. This means weaker enforcement of the remaining bits of law we barely pay attention to now, more inequality in terms of pay, a huge loss of ability to make our own decisions in the future.

And it's a done deal, no input from the public because no one cares or is paying attention and the media is making sure it stays that way. I'm sure Barlowe's article will be followed up by some jackwad like ezra levant or conrad black extolling the virtues of free trade and duping the public into thinking like rich investors.

Here is a good example of how Canadian mining companies conduct themselves. One nice universe for Europe and other white nations and one nasty reality for the rest of the world. When your engaged in raping the planet it seems that it is an easy step to actual rape of the indigenous women who would stand in your way.

This is Canada's brave new world.

Quote:

Following allegations of a series of gang rapes at its Porgera mine, Barrick devised a strategy the company says will help fulfill its promise to the surrounding communities: "We will uphold your rights and we will protect your dignity."

But a group of NGOs from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. says that the resulting document, far from protecting rape victims, requires them to waive their rights.

The framework document stipulates that in exchange for remedies such as access to counselling and micro-credit, "the claimant agrees that she will not pursue or participate in any legal action against [Porjera Joint Venture], PRFA [Porgera Remediation Framework Association Inc.] or Barrick in or outside of [Papua New Guinea]. PRFA and Barrick will be able to rely on the agreement as a bar to any legal proceedings which may be brought by the claimant in breach of the agreement."

MiningWatch Canada's Catherine Coumans said the NGOs "do not believe women should have to sign away rights to possible future legal action in order to access the types of remedy Barrick is offering these victims of rape and gang rape."

NGO claims 'erroneous and misleading': Barrick

While some of the alleged rapists were company employees, others were members of the police assigned to provide additional mine security. But the NGOs say the material support Barrick provided to these police officers blurred the line between employees and non-employees, and they want the company to assist women raped by either category of security forces.

"We are also concerned that Barrick is not offering remedy to those women who have been raped and gang raped by members of police Mobile Squads who are being housed, fed and supported by PJV on PJV property," according to Rights & Accountability in Development's Tricia Feeney.

Quebec could throw a monkey wrench into any free-trade deal between Canada and the European Union if it's not satisfied with the treaty's contents, Premier Pauline Marois warned Monday.

The Parti Quebecois leader told a news conference the province could enact laws or regulations to make it difficult to implement a Canada-EU treaty if it believes there has been an encroachment on provincial jurisdiction.

"At one point, when it comes to certain principles with which we are unable to live or agreements that have an impact on our market that is unacceptable, well, I don't think we should give up," Marois said.

Such deals are just another reason why Quebec needs to be sovereign, the premier added.

Right now, the Canadian Constitution says only the federal government can sign trade deals with other countries.

The new Quebec government says its support for a Canada-Europe free trade agreement is not yet certain and is warning that it should not be treated as a fait accompli.

The Parti Québécois government said Wednesday that there are grey areas in the negotiation that need to be clarified before the province signs on.

The new minister responsible for the file, Jean-François Lisée, said in an interview that he's "moderately optimistic" that the province will eventually support the deal — but he has some concern about going too far in liberalizing certain industries.

The PQ government says it's particularly concerned about energy and cultural policy, along with some other economic sectors.

It is also critical of the level of transparency in the file and says too little information has filtered out from the negotiations. The PQ made that same criticism in opposition while confronting the previous government of Jean Charest, who was among the staunchest and earliest proponents of a Canada-EU deal.

But there is no exemption for water services, a sore point with critics of the negotiations with the world's richest market.

The documents released Wednesday by RQIC, a network of Quebec civil society groups and unions, are the first public glimpse of the list of exemptions Ottawa and the provinces have proposed for protection under any new deal.

They represent the starting position submitted to the EU in October, however, and some may be dropped in future sessions. It is not known what is on the EU exclusion list.

A spokesman for RQIC said the group is still analysing more than 200 pages of exempted items, but the lack of a set-aside for municipal water systems sticks out like a sore thumb.

"This opens open up any public procurement on water, any public contract will need to be opened up to multinationals," said Pierre-Yves Serinet of RQIC.

"Water is under municipal (control) but we know infrastructure is very old and needs big investments in the near future, so the control of drinking water and also waste water is a big concern."

The Council of Canadians and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, in a release to be issued Thursday, argue the deal would mark the first time Canada has allowed drinking water to become part of a trade agreement. And it could open up municipalities to lawsuits from European water operators.

"If CETA were signed today ... municipalities who choose a public-private partnership for a water or wastewater facility become vulnerable to corporate lawsuits demanding compensation for lost profits under the investor-state dispute mechanism," the release states.

In addition, Quebec and Ottawa have been working closely on the Canada-Europe free trade deal, which is expected to be signed in the coming months, and have agreed to extend that co-operation to the impending free-trade talks with Asian countries.

Regrettably, the NDP has a lack of confidence in the Harper government to approach the Canada-EU agreement with transparency and the best interests of Canadians in mind.

Negotiations so far have been secretive. No doubt the Harper government intends once again to have this be a closed deal and only conduct empty consultations with Parliament after the fact.

The NDP also has no confidence in the Harper government to protect Canada's best interests, as we have seen through the Softwood Lumber Agreement sell-out. Harper was more than ready to concede to American interests just for the sake of making a deal—any deal....

Trade is good - corrupt stooges, bad. Government secrecy and democracy are completely different and incompatible themes as we've noted in countless threads on 9/11, Liberal and reformaTory government stoogery and so on.

When you import more than you export YOU are losing the free trade deal.

NOW go compare our imports versus our exports!!!

LIKE HELLO!!!

That is a salient point, and I agree for the most part. But, and there is always a but, however, etcetera.

It is common knowledge that Canada is a country with unparalleled in the world natural resource wealth and a relatively tiny population. And it is possible to develop natural resource wealth in sustainable ways, but that does not describe Canada's approach to resource extraction of the last 30 years or so.

The new liberal capitalism of the last three decades has meant resource extraction and raping of the planet at a frenzied pace and on a scale never witnessed at any time before in world history. It was as if unfettered greed was unleashed in the world.

On the other hand we have a situation since WW II whereby very many countries depend on imports of raw materials in order for their manufacturing and export-dependent economies to continue. Germany is an example of a country whose 900+ billion dollar export-driven economy is heavily reliant on imports of raw materials. Before the last world war it was a case where certain European countries coveted the resources of other countries, and especially Russia's vast resources. Some would say the situation has not changed all that much today because all wars are resource grabs. And I agree with that assessment.

What we need today is sustainable trade with the world in order to keep the peace between nations. Marx said to let industrial capitalism proliferate around the world, because in the end the marvel of capitalist industry will be owned by the workers. Trade agreements would be included in that future scenario. We should want for the proliferation of development around the world, and not neoliberal de-industrialization with financial masters of the universe "creating wealth" through debt with the added evil of compound interest accruing in total by more than countries are able to pay. Neoliberalism leads to debt-ridden economies by design, and the maruading international capital then proceeds to conquer nations, not by military means so much anymore, but by odious debt and fraudulent fiancial maneuvering. The former Yugoslavia was destroyed first by the bad economic theory resulting in bad economies exacerbating old ethnic conflicts which were, for most of the post-war era, ameliorated by socialist policies and what was probably the largest proportion of middle class workers in the world by the 1970's.

It's all good. When the world revolutions are eventually concluded, it will belong to the true majority of human beings lock, stock and barrel excluding fictitious debt claims by the globalized financial oligarchies now unable to wage land invasions of countries due to high monetary and human costs, and because of a general reluctance of the workers to be pawns in their glorious world war scenarios.